Marketing Challenges for Today’s Executives

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Marketing Challenges for Today’s Executives

Georgia State UniversityEconomic Forecasting ConferenceMay 25, 2006


With Apologies to Peter Drucker

“There are 4 basic functions of business: •strategic visioning, •innovating,•marketing,•selling …everything else is cost.”


How Well those 4 Functions Function Determines:

1.Growth & Brand Dominance

2.Mediocrity & Brand Obscurity

3.Silence & Brand Death-Spiral


Issue #1: Understanding & Embracing the Growth Value Chain

Corporate Vision

The Brand

Innovation

Market Insight

Marketing Strategies

Branding

Selling

How the company is perceivedin the marketplace

How the company wantsto be perceived

What the marketplace wants and/or will need

How the company willcreate sustaining value What the company

must do to delivervalueHow the company

influences preferenceover other options

How the companyproves its value


Issue #2: Brand vs. Branding … They’re Not The Same

• It is THE company or organization … it is every offering, touch-point, experience.

• It is NOT the logo, ad campaign, collateral, web site …that’s marketing communications.

• It is a gut feeling about a product, service or company. It’s an emotional, intuitive reaction not necessarily based on anything rational.

• When enough people arrive at the same gut feeling, a company is a BRAND.


What Contributes to Brand Creation?

Vision + Reality = The Brand


Brands lacking emotion aren’t brands at all …they’re just legal entities dripping with ambiguity.


Issue #3: The Corporate Vision: Where Clichés Meet Boredom

• Classic Vision Statement:BCGroup, Inc.

Our vision is to provide leading edge technology solutions and superior services that enable our customers to best showcase their offerings and/or be entertained in a state-of-the-art environment, whether at work or at home.

• Personified Vision Statement:AVYVE

I Am Avyve: a vibrant, passionate company that loves the magic I create for clients using the most sophisticated audio/visual systems available. I literally make a room come to life … whether it’s a corporate board room or a private theatre in someone’s home.


Issue #4: Getting & Using Market Insight

Inside/OutFacilitated session with key management on objectives/goals of the company. Determine inconsistencies & obstacles for success.

Outside/InExternal primary & secondary research on market potential, obstacles & opportunity.

Brand Collaboratory™Virtual “Board of Advisors” with diverse & appropriate backgrounds to brainstorm & problem solve.


Issue #5: Creating an Environment of Innovation

Innovation

CapitalImprovement

Staff Downsizing

Outsourcing

Other

What is fueling productivity?

Source: “2005 National Innovation Survey”Council on Competitiveness

42%14%

12%

11%

8%

Staff Downsizing

Capital Improvement

Innovation

Outsourcing

Other



“Research is the translation of money into knowledge,whereas innovation is the translation of knowledge intoproducts and services that add value. You have to combine the two components … innovation is ultimately the integration of information from different parts of the organization (and from outside the building). The question is, which ones do youfocus on and deliver to the marketplace?”

Ralph Katz, Professor of Entrepreneurship & InnovationNortheastern University’s College of Business

Lots of IdeasDeveloping a comprehensive list of options … from product ideas to creative tactics.

Game ChangingRefining ideas to identify those with the most opportunity to make a dramatic impact in the market and for the company.

DecisioningProcess of researching and evaluating the many options available to determine the best course of action.



0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Employees

Business Partners

Customers

Consultants

Competitors

Associations, tradeshow s, etc.

Internal sales & service units

Internal R&D

Academia

Most Significant Sources of Innovation Ideas(percent of respondents)

Source: 2006 CEO Survey, IBM Business Consulting Services


Issue #5: Marketing Strategies

• A discipline that combines science and art to produce bottom line financial results for a company. It does that by …• Inventing products/services

ideas that, when sold, have value in the marketplace (product)

• Ensuring these products are competitive and profitable (price)

• Using the best channel of distribution available to reach the consumer (placement)

• Establishing a positive name recognition/image by promoting the product in a way that motivates behavior (promotion)


Issue #5: Marketing Strategies – A Supply Chain of Innovation

Market Insight

Product Invention

Product Promotion Product

PurchaseData

Gathering

Database Mining & Segmentation

Product Development Management

Customer Satisfaction &

Loyalty

Campaign Management

YOUR BRAND


Issue #5: Marketing Strategies

• Great marketing causes epiphanies:• It can help customers think one of two things –

“Ah, I see! I really want that! In fact, I need it!”(This is raising crisis.)

- Or -

“Oh. It isn’t nearly as hard as I thought. I’ll do it!”(This is lowering the perceived pain of adoption.)


Issue #6: Branding - Creating the Right Emotional Experience

The value of a BRAND (b) is equal to the productof its RATIONAL (r) elements and EMOTIONAL (e)elements squared, divided by PERCEPTION (p).

Net, net … EMOTIONAL BRANDS CREATE VALUE!


How are Brands Articulated?

• Distinctive – does the brand expression stand out from competing messages?

• Relevant – is the brand expression appropriate for its goals? Does it grow naturally from the DNA of the brand?

• Memorable – can people recall the brand or brand expression when they need to?

• Extendible – how well does the brand expression work across media, markets, industries? Does it have “legs?”

• Deep – does it have the ability to communicate with audiences on a number of levels? Some are drawn to information, others to style and others to emotion. Does the brand expression create connections for more than one level?


Issue #7: Driving Strategic Visioning To Sales Execution

rollout planone story

colla

bora

te

colla

bora

teBrand

Deliverables

SalesDeliverables

Differentiate & Position

• Competitive Analysis• Positioning Gap Analysis• Executive Alignment

Brand Articulation

• Go-To-Market Strat Plan• Messaging Hierarchy• Brand Visual Concepts

Internal & External Brand Building

• Branding Campaigns• Sales Support Tools• Public, Analyst &

Financial Relations

• Interactive/Web• Customer Communication• Trade Shows• Internal Roll-Out

Sales Audit

• Sales Effectiveness Assessment

• Sales Confidence Study

Field Execution Planning

• Executive Alignment Session• Implementation Architecture• Training Road Map

Messaging, Training & Coaching

• Training Workshops• Field Coaching Tools• Reinforcement Modules

• Sales Manager Coaching• Measurement Scorecard

ExecutionPositioningAssessment & Alignment

StrategyDeliverables

Opportunity Assessment

• Marketing Needs Analysis• Industry Trending• Growth Options

Value Prop Articulation

• Value Prop Validation• Segmentation Planning• Resource Planning

Go-To-Market Management

• M&A Integration• Organization Change• Product/Service

Rationalization

• Pricing Strategies• Strategic Alliances• Channel Development

Strategic Visioning Revenue & Profitability


In Conclusion: Today’s Market-Savvy Executive Understands …

• Your team must be able to explain the organization through stories that captivate imagination and create a visual image/metaphor. • If you team needs a white board and 30 minutes, the

message is “we’re a generic company with no imagination or innovation.”

• Your team must have access (internally & externally) to creative business thinkers that put innovation, competitive dominance and customers first.• When too much time is spent psycho-babbling the

insignificant or fighting turf battles, everyone loses.



• Value propositions are created internally and validated externally. • Executives who say they know their customer and

market better than anyone else, yet, have no mechanism for non-biased feedback are breathing their own air.

• Organizations must encourage access to customers and customer-facing employees to seek out issues and opportunities.• People are people … we all want to be heard … and

we all have ideas, if just asked.



• Big ideas … whether new products, new markets or new creative campaigns often need outside influence to push thinking and barrier breaking • The more dominating the leadership, the more closed the

creative process … outsiders can provide the unemotional facilitation needed to move things forward.

• It does not take a village to envision a brand’s potential. It does take a village … and motivated employees/ partners/customers to make the brand promise a reality.• It takes a select, compulsively curious and amazingly persistent

group of people to make bold decisions that move companies.

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Marketing Challenges for Today’s Executives